


All Of Your Glory: TROS FanFic

by NikkiNotions



Series: SW sequel film fics [2]
Category: Episode IX - Fandom, Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker
Genre: #what we deserved, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Complex Emotions, Episode IX, F/M, Feels, Fragile mental health, I want to make everyone happy, I'll update if I add smut, If you needed help with the screenplay JJ you could have just asked, It will make more sense, M/M, Read my other fic first?, Reylo - Freeform, Sequel to my previous fic, Slow Burn, So here is my humble offering, TROS fix it fic, TROS if it made sense, TRoS Spoilers, There will be HEA, True Love, WE deserved better, and now nightmares, ship of dreams, thanks JJ, they have a future, they have a past, youre gonna suffer but youre gonna be happy about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiNotions/pseuds/NikkiNotions
Summary: Hello there!If you were a fan of my TLJ fic (Between Two Points) I hope you enjoy my take on TROS. I've made the choice, in light of recent developments, to follow along with my original plans for the story BUT ALSO turn "All Of Your Glory" into a 'fix-it' fic as well. You'll notice deviations including new characters, scenes, and a whole lot of thoughts we never get to hear on screen. Join me for my conclusion of the Skywalker Saga and another chapter in my episodic Reylo fics!"Across the stars. A shadow out of sight.Just out of reach. An ember sure and brightUnending. An echo fills the night.Two souls rebel, reflect…unite""All Of Your Glory" by Broods is the inspiration for this fic"Between Two Points" by The Glitch Mob inspired my previous fic
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Original Female Character(s), Kylo Ren & Rey, Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: SW sequel film fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583533
Comments: 9
Kudos: 25





	1. Broken Connection

**Author's Note:**

> I READ AND REPLY TO ALL COMMENTS SO FEEL FREE TO GET INTERACTIVE! I LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE!
> 
> Also look for my Reylo and "All Of Your Glory" playlists on Spotify Nikki Rao

**Across the stars. A shadow out of sight.**

**Just out of reach. An ember sure and bright**

**Unending. An echo fills the night.**

**Two souls rebel, reflect…unite**

  


It’s night. Only hours after a lethal ballet in the stars changed the destiny of two souls and a galaxy.

It’s quiet in his rooms. Until it isn’t.

He feels the disturbing laughter as much as he hears it in his mind.

Kylo rises urgently from the bed where he futilely tried meditation as a means of rest.

‘Snoke is dead!...I killed him’ he asserts angrily to his own thoughts. Damning his own foolish doubts and fears. His need to still convince himself.

The room is still.

But the Force shudders.

-

Her bunk hums in sync with the ventilation and turbines that line the panels along the makeshift cabin, but a tremor reaches from across the stars to deliver news.

She should sleep but she knows she won’t find rest.

Rey’s eyes shut for a moment. Cold veins of white-hot fire streak her hooded vision. A bolt of dark fury that blinds her before striking her heart true.

The Force stills

But Rey shudders.

Nyx’s words haunt the wake of her brief nightmare “Snoke was no Imperator”.

* * *

Sometime later…

Big wet drops pattered softly. He could hear them striking stone. Could smell the way the dust and dirt awoke with the damp and dew and heralded a new day on what he could tell must be a forest world.

She still slept. He envied the rest she was able to find. And while Rey dreamed Kylo savored another moment won. He told himself surveillance was the best way to track and crush the ruins left of The Resistance. Thus, he assured himself that his laborious efforts to use their Force Bond was a necessary evil. At this moment it had been exactly 42 standard days since he had seen her through the bond. Last time was brief but telling. He had glimpsed her shuffling through a crowd of eager people all trying to see and touch _the_ Rey of Jakku. She had to force her way through the growing crowd as she broke into a run. Wet gasps escaping her as she wept in a cave as the connection back then had faded. The same cave she must have made her own as he watched her now curled in a ball sleeping.

Things had changed.

Months had passed since Crait and he wasn’t certain how long he could endure. His thoughts lingered on fading away consumed by his grief and rage. Perhaps taking flight. Picking a direction and holding course until he found a star so far away the light which reached him would not know his face. A solitary life where he could live in his memories rather than bare the dejected void of this new reality.

Even if it hadn’t been for the First Order, he could hardly sleep, eat, or think of anything else. He had offered her everything and been rejected. But something pushed back stirring in the Force. Something powerful that wasn’t he or Rey. Something he was certain must sense her as it sensed him. Something that could be no good. Something he needed to seek out as The Supreme Leader. A threat. Another reason that to throw it all away, to run, hide, repent…to change. That would be his most vicious crime. To relent, to abandon, and to squander the only currency he had left after a life of sacrifice and suffering…_power_.

His life had never been easy, but he had hoped for so many things when they had found each other again.

“Hope is a dangerous thing” Kylo mused quietly as he thought about trailing the wisps of hair from Rey’s temple along her jaw.

As if the Force knew what was best, the bond seemed to fade at his errant thoughts of contact. 

-

Rey stirred in the morning light. A whisper like fingers ghosting over her guiding her from sleep to wakefulness. ‘Is it you?’ she wondered sleepily.

-

* * *

Months pass...

It’s quiet in his room. The day has been loud and heated, so the cool black sheets are a welcome respite. It hasn’t been easy keeping the power he has earned. Today, like any other, there are dozens of decisions to make, orders to give, and strategies to consider. Contrary to the opinions of the extremists and rebels, he would see the galaxy brought to order rather than rule its ashes.

The strange influence he senses stirring far away concerns him deeply as he continues to search for the source with increasing urgency. It hadn’t taken Kylo long to connect the disturbing dots and realize the power very well seemed to be coming from the former Emperor Palpatine. His fears are confirmed when a bizarre transmission reached across the galaxy on all frequencies. The recording was decades old and cryptic. It called on a sleeper cell referred to as The Final Order to respond to the call. Kylo had Nyx pouring over artifacts and readings that could give him a lead to the ghost of Palpatine. But when Kylo began receiving his own private messages within his mind from the specter he could not tell if he was finally descending into madness or should not underestimate the power of a Sith, even one long thought dead.

He had taken few liberties after becoming Supreme Leader, but one was to finally have a bed that suited his massive frame. He couldn’t say that it encouraged better rest but he was certainly more comfortable as he stared at the dura-steel tiling above his bed. Kylo closed his eyes in frustrated exhaustion as a familiar static charge filled him with dread.

“Come to me my boy!” it whispered reassuringly within his mind. The accent was different, but it reminded him so very much of the same intonation of Snoke.

“Come to me fool! Find your fate!” the villain scolded with sudden impatience. Palpatine's voice was new but the temperament was certainly as changeable as the former Supreme Leader. 

Kylo focused, as usual, on forcing the intruder from his mind. A cold sweat formed on his brow as he twisted in his sheets. Each time he was seemingly possessed it became harder and harder to extricate his mind from the invader.

“So strong!” the voice praised before issuing another threat. “Stop this nonsense and become what you were always meant to be!”

This time was more difficult than any other. Kylo had been forcing Palpatine from his mind for nearly a year and when his final efforts failed him this night the former Emperor made his message loud and clear.

“_ENOUGH_! You will heed my directions Kylo Ren, as ever, and you will finish what I have started!.”

A brief familiar thought flickered through Kylo’s mind and settled as a chill along his spine.

“Yes…hmmm” Palpatine snickered.

“You finally see” the voice of Snoke goaded.

“I am every voice you have ever heard inside your head!” he heard through the vocoder of his grandfather Darth Vader complete with labored breaths trailing as the emperor continued.

“I’m not even mad that you cut me down, bravo! Your boldness and hunger for power exceeded my wildest expectations. And now you thrive in your seat of power!” Palpatine extolled admirably.

Kylo was shuttering as he resisted and waited for the mood to shift again. For the other shoe to drop and the manipulation to begin.

“BUT…” the voice cut brutally through Kylo’s entire body forcing his teeth to grind together.

  


“If you think I don’t know about that _woman_ and the extent of your infatuation, you are very...much…mistaken!” Palpatine spat. “We both know who she really is now don’t we? She was the other ghost inside your head. The little spark you concealed so long as a boy. The light that had died out inside you. Resurrected from obscurity by the Force itself. What luck! No? Or perhaps since she refused you, refused the galaxy! Perhaps you long for the days where you thought that sand rat dead. You always shied away from sharing her glory. Hiding her away from me. Out of your deep dark mind, trapped in your heart. Well there was no hiding the splendor of your murderous ascent to Supreme Leader my boy. She is _magnificent_. I’ve been acquainting myself with her mind as well you see, thanks to your _bond_. I’ve called her to my side as well. Mmm yes. So much more than a pair of pretty eyes isn’t she Kylo? Pure, bright, strong…dangerous...**_Rey!_**”

Kylo was experienced in schooling his features and scrubbing his mind but his tormentor’s final words flung his decorum far off into the unknown reaches of space. Bolting upright out of his bed Kylo severed the demented connection inside his mind by pounding both fists against the paneled wall and denting them considerably.

‘He knows too much’ Kylo thought wildly trying to construct a plan. After the mental duress of the conversation and connection to Palpatine he could focus on little else but the solemn fact that he alone must find the fallen Emperor first and _fast_. 

* * *

“C’mon sunshine! Show me some of that Jedi _magic_!” Poe teased mercilessly from his seat on a mossy boulder.

“I…am…_not_…a Jedi” Rey punctuated fiercely balancing blindfolded on a fallen tree. 

Finn did his best to balance too while lobbing stones and clumps of earth at her. The former storm-trooper knew better than to go easy on Rey and chucked several objects her way at once. In rapid and fluid succession Rey cut through the projectiles with the repaired saber of Luke Skywalker. The saber of his father before him, Anakin Skywalker; Darth Vader. It had taken her and C3P0 months pouring over the books left for her by Luke in the Falcon to fix the broken relic. The blade now blazing a deeper grey-blue.

“And it _isn’t_…Magic!” Rey hissed as she tore off her blindfold triumphant before a clod of dirt made a wet smack against her cheek courtesy of Finn.

“Nothing very _magical_ about that Poe!” Finn choked as laughter erupted from the two men.

Rey heaved a sigh as she turned away wiping her face clean. She was grateful for the help, but too often the buddies were too lighthearted for their own good.

‘I need a teacher’ she thought grimly as hungry dark eyes flashed in her memory. Alight between the beams of a red and blue saber. Great soft flakes of snow framing the sight.

“I’m going to run the training course” Rey announced trying to use her focus to put Kylo from her mind.

“_Nice_. And Rey?” Poe began casually. “Remember the fireside chat with the Resistance tonight. It’s been a long time since you made an appearance. The Resistance needs to see the warrior who ended Snoke. This new threat..If it is what we fear… I think the troops would benefit from a pep talk from the last Jed-“

Before Poe could finish the doomed sentence, Finn cut in “Hopefully we see you there, no pressure”.

Rey gave a tight smile before running into the cover of the woods. Farther from reality, from the crews, and pilots, and soldiers, from the questions…From the Resistance. 

* * *

BB8 could barely roll fast enough to keep up with Rey’s pace across the wooded training course. Now and again an obstacle would appear to challenge her. A target to strike, a log to lift, a stream to jump across.

Rey’s brow was flushed, and beading sweat. BB couldn’t recall when last she had hydrated herself. He whirred concern as she leaped and sliced through a tree dividing it into neat cross sections which she then guided with the force into a neat stack.

“I’m _fine_” Rey snapped. At the same moment she felt cold dread as the static energy she now knew to fear crept along her spine. Distracted the last slice of bark toppled through the air striking BB8 pinning the droid to the forest floor.

“_**REY**_!” The unnerving and unnatural voice thundered.

Rey let out as small cry as she fell back into the soft dirt. She snapped her head from side to side but knew better than to look for the source of the voice. She pinched herself hard making sure she hadn’t fallen asleep. Palpatine had only ever reached her when she tried to rest.

“Oh child, did you think I could only find you in sleep? How quaint…” Before he could continue, she snapped.

“What do you _want_?!” She growled between bared teeth.

BB8 beeped frantically from his position. Not registering who Rey could be speaking to.

“You my dear! Oh, I know that is such a foreign concept to you. Discarded all your life like so much _scrap_ in a junk yard hmmm? But I want you! You’ve been _blinded_ by the kindness of the first strangers you met. But I can help you finish your journey”.

“Why?” Rey quietly breathed into the dusk. Her question hanging in the air as the woods grew dark and her breath filled the air as it grew colder.

Too gently the ghost consoled her doubt. “What if I told you, I could help you end this war?”.

* * *

When BB8 made it back to base he wasn’t rolling so much as wobbling his way to Poe.

“Woah, woah there! What the heck happened to you little buddy!” The pilot asked as he wrangled his alarmed droid.

BB had dragged himself out from under the section of tree Rey had dropped on him. The process had been long and hard but only a side panel and balance array had been lost in the process.

Lights and whirs filled the air as the bot alerted Poe, Finn, and a handful of other Resistance members to the distress Rey was in. Beeps and boops chimed frantically and Poe hoped not all the team members around them could understand.

“Finn…with me” he ordered in a hardened way when it seemed BB’s message would never end.

It had been sometime since he and Finn had left Rey in the forest and the night had grown cold. Colder still was the clearing where Rey sat still as a statue muttering inaudibly. Poe pressed his hand against Finn’s chest urging him to stay back as he approached from behind. His boots crunched across the frost that had settled over the long grass in the woods. The exposed skin of Rey’s upper arms looked blue and the danger of exposure was a real threat if she had remained unmoved too long.

Neither BB’s warning nor the unnerving scene playing out before him could prepare Poe for what he found next.

As he rounded Rey’s profile, he stared into the vacant expression of milk white eyes where he thought to find the depth of her hazel gaze.

“Rey…” Poe gasped softly afraid to touch her for fear he may shatter her frozen countenance.

Her pale lips parted slowly and a breath seemingly the first in a long while escaped her. A plume of steam issued forth assuring Poe that some warmth remained within her. Quickly he shucked off his jacket and the moment he made contact it was as if Rey had been pulled from beneath the surface of a frozen lake.

Gasping and retching Rey desperately dislodged words with difficulty. “War. P-P-Palpatine. Ben. Galaxy. C-c-choice. D-d-die” Moments later once her breathing evened out warm tears began defrosting her frozen cheeks “Only w-w-ay”.

“Get them out of here” Poe ordered severely when he noticed a small group of Resistance groupies had followed him and Finn to Rey.

A young man brushed off Finn’s hand as he stumbled back towards base.

“We’re going!” He had shouted. “Whatever man, she’s _nuts_!”.

Poe grimaced but deeper still the words stung since they had been his thoughts exactly when BB8 had returned battered and bruised babbling about Rey talking to herself in the woods.

* * *

Finn did his best to calm Poe when he was in one of his moods. But after bringing Rey back to base the pilot withdrew to repair BB8 and brushed off not only Finn’s attempts at conversation, but Leia’s as well.

Rey had been nearly catatonic and so rested in a medically induced slumber while the trio managed damage control. Finn went to talk to the teams across the base to get ahead of the gossip while Leia remained to watch over Rey and have a word with Poe.

“We’ve been pushing her too hard” Leia reasoned evenly in hushed tones although she knew very well her voice wouldn’t wake Rey from the sedatives she had been given.

“Too _hard_?” Poe bit back “We haven’t been pushing her enough! You’ve been letting her run through the woods like a wild child while she should be out there!” he gestured to the crowded canteen. “She should be with The Resistance…with the people…changing hearts and minds!” Lowering his voice, the young man moved closer to the General “Or have you forgotten the spectacular display of _solitude_ our ‘allies’ demonstrated at Crait?”.

“Hearts and minds won’t be enough this time Poe” Leia began gravely. “True we need resources and support, but this time it won’t be cannon fire or aerial maneuvers that save the day”. Leia moved closer to the cot where Rey was laid. “She doesn’t need to shake hands or gain the people’s favor Poe. She doesn’t need to convince anyone to join our cause”. Poe took a deep breath to correct Leia but before he could utter a syllable she pressed on. “If the state of the galaxy these past few years hasn’t been enough to motivate people to our cause what will?” At that Poe closed his mouth and listened silently. “She needs to prepare herself for what is to come. I don’t know what it is, but I can tell you that no diplomat or financier or _pilot_ will be able to stand alongside her when its arrived”.

“And the fact that she’s cracked doesn’t worry you? That your little foundling has started chatting...no I’m sorry that would suggest _coherent_ sentences…has started muttering to thin air!” Poe erupts.

“Foundling? Really Poe. Are you getting jealous at _your_ age?” Leia mocks lovingly as she cups his scruffy jaw. “There are a dozen different explanations I can think of. She could be sick, delirious, a fever…she could have been deep in a meditative state…she could have…” Leia went on but was halted by Poe’s stern expression.

“I think it’s time we had a long talk Leia” He took a deep seemingly painful breath as he steeled himself to admit what he should have reported months ago. “This _isn’t_ the first time”.


	2. The Force Shall Set Me Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter catches up with a whole lotta folks! We have more Kylo/Ben and Rey, we have more Poe and Finn, we have Nyx, we have Palpy, and we have DJ! 
> 
> Keep in mind if you haven't read "Between Two Points" there will be somethings that will take a bit of getting used to. I recommend reading it of course, but I'm sure if you can't you'll catch on!
> 
> *FUN FACT* I named a planet in this chapter Fujayjay. Can anyone guess why?   
Answer: Since I'm saltier than Crait and hella petty Fujayjay translates to F U JJ .....Cause I'm SO mature ehehe

Nyx Kryze had her hands full. Digging through artifacts and texts to research Palpatine was difficult enough, but mediating the squabbles of a couple of grown men too was downright torturous. Just when she managed to assuage one ego another flared up. Rey had granted Kylo a level of lucidity Nyx hadn’t seen in years, but now that she was gone again, he fell back into his old ways; poking the bear…a ginger bear named Armitage Hux to be exact.

While Nyx could appreciate keeping Hux in his place, a task she never had the pleasure of doling out herself, she knew Kylo was playing with fire. The General had been immediately suspicious of Snoke’s death. He was no fool and knew even if Ren had been struck unconscious there was no way Rey could have terminated The Supreme Leader _and_ his entire Praetorian guard with such ease. Not alone.

Each day after all of her regular duties Nyx sequestered herself in an extremely bright, though narrow room attached to Kylo’s quarters. Here she managed her research time pouring over materials while Hux attended his own shift. Afterwards she would spend her evening with The General usually in some state of undress serving, listening, advising…before she passed a handful of hours of fitful and broken sleep trying to prepare for the cycle to start again.

On and on the sequence continued…wearing Nyx thin like the ancient parchment of the Sith texts Kylo had acquired. Worn to a delicate state by the demanding hands which had turned the pages too rough and too oft.

One night the Mandalore native had a breakthrough. A tiny world mentioned in riddles across several texts. A bleak speck of terrain called Fujayjay. Somewhere the planet harbored information on how to navigate to Exogol, which had been the only clue Palpatine fed to Kylo about his whereabouts.

The hour was late, but Nyx knew better than to wait to share this development with The Supreme Leader. She shuddered at Kylo’s decision to keep the moniker, but after what happened in the throne room of _The Supremacy_, understood that he alone could ascend from his own darkness.

The console beside Kylo’s quarters indicated he was within. Nyx double checked there was no signal that requested he not be disturbed but since she knew how little he slept she wasn't surprised to find none. Entering the antechamber of his rooms Nyx could hear sounds of a struggle behind the doors that led to Kylo’s bedchamber. Quickly she moved to the dura-steel door. Her Force abilities were not as adept as Ben or Rey, and she often needed pain to forge a strong connection to the power, but even she could sense the distress of Kylo. The security measures here were bio metric and since the ship was not in imminent danger there was no protocol to override the lock. Nyx grimaced as she heard another series of strained groans and thrashing limbs beyond the barrier. A blow from any old object would not be enough to damage the security panel, so Nyx braced herself as she crossed the fingers on her good hand and reared back to smash the display with her mechanized hand.

The Beskar and dura-steel enhancement made a satisfying sound as it collided with with the panel. Nyx put her shoulder into it and continued to push her fist through the screen as it crunched and sparked. The very conductive material of her hand and forearm allowed energy to arch across the small conduit and overload the unit. The surge in power and abundance of sparks tripped the safety on the doorway as it hissed open.

Nyx shook off the shock which thankfully hadn't rendered her unconscious. Bits of glass and burnt wiring fell away as she flexed her fingers and stepped into the bedroom. Her good hand halted its course through her short burgundy hair. She didn’t need a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, both her black and silver-grey eyes trained on Kylo’s tortured form.

His eyes were blown wide in terror and rage. His entire body tensed as he struggled against an ominous miasma that filled the space. Nyx thought to reach out, to try and break him from the dark connection, but abruptly the veins along Kylo’s neck, jaw, and arms all stood at attention as he sprang from the bed and hurled himself into the nearest wall. In horror she watched as Kylo threw himself and his fists against the panels denting them with his brute force.

“He knows too much!” He whispered, cried, and screamed repeatedly.

Kylo’s shoulders worked heavily as he evened his breathing. Once he regained his composure, he only then seemed to become aware of Nyx in the room.

His eyes were wild. Like an injured animal. Nyx wondered if _this_ was the Endgame and Palpatine was the true Imperator after all. If Kylo’s sanity would be a pawn sacrifice on their way to the end. Nyx met Kylo’s eyes directly as she pulled the holodisk from her jacket. She thumbed it thoughtfully realizing she held a metaphorical Shah-tezh piece after all.

Kylo moved his dark hooded eyes to the data in Nyx’s hand. He stepped forward understanding her arrival and said softly…

“Tell me”.

* * *

Poe kept a reassuring hand on Finn’s shoulder as they observed Rey through a one-way panel of dura-glass overlooking her private medical suite.

“It’s a glorified _prison_” the former storm-trooper grimaced as he shook off Poe’s hand and crossed to the other side of the window. “She’s sick…or hurt…or _both_ and we’re locking her up like…like…like some…”

“Traitor?” Poe offered neutrally knowing how deeply the word haunted his friend.

Finn turned quickly and sighed. “Yes. And just because she is going through something…that…we can’t even understand…we should keep her locked in a ‘_medical_ _suite’?_”.

Poe took a deep breath having explained the logic a dozen times. “It’s for her safety as much as ours Finn. She nearly died out there. She was talking about a vision. Palpatine...Ben…War. A choice? And, look, I know I’ve never told you this, but I’ve heard her talking to herself before…to _him_…or at him at least…_Kylo_”

“That doesn’t mean she is helping him!...that doesn’t mean-“ Finn’s defense was cut short. 

“It _means_ she has been putting herself and each of us in danger _every_ _time_ she has communicated with that _monster_ Finn” Poe spat in a manner that brooked no response.

* * *

Rey stirred as she began to wake from her medically induced sleep. It was much warmer than the forest she remembered being in. She sat upright quickly and regretted her haste as a wave of dizziness overtook her senses.

“Rest” a medical protocol droid ordered as it urged her back onto a series of pillows. “The powerful sedative you were given will have lingering symptoms, refrain from sudden movements and operating heavy machinery until your system has fully metabolized the-“

“Powerful sedative?” Rey whispered to herself as she tuned out the nurse and took in her surroundings.

She was not in the medical bay. Instead she appeared to be in an interrogation space turned recovery room. The usual steel table and chairs had been removed and replaced with essential medical gear, but the implication remained, she was not in a place meant for allies.

‘Have we been attacked?’ she wondered as she sat up further and met her own reflection in the one-way glass of the small holding area. Rey had never been one to fuss over her own appearance, she could count on one hand the number of reflective surfaces on Jakku, but she hardly recognized herself in the mirrored panel. The woman she saw looked sallow, afraid, and weak…nothing Rey wanted to associate with herself. She willed herself to be strong and began making her way to the door of the room when the intercom crackled to life.

“Hold your horses there!” Poe tutted from a place that apparently had a view of her room. “I know this is a lot to take in, but I think it would be best if you just laid back down, relaxed, and waited til’ Leia arrives so we can all talk”. 

“_Talk_” Rey repeated coolly without stopping her path to the door. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want the answer to the question that scared her, but she couldn’t stop herself from reaching forward and finding out. She tried the access panel. LOCKED. “And you think this is best for _who_ exactly?” she managed bitterly. 

Rey almost couldn’t recognize Poe’s humorless voice as he replied strictly “This is what’s best for all of us”.

* * *

**Exogol**

The Outer Rim and the expanse beyond it are littered with planets that are difficult and desolate. Worlds that for one reason or another have avoided the notice of those who struggle for power. Empire, Republic, Sith, Jedi, First Order, Resistance. Forgotten and forlorn. The Galaxy is an awfully big place and the motes of dust that make up the scattered realms there have slept in apathetic squalor, _until_ _now_.

Stone and steel collide in a discordant symphony that heralds the awakening of something truly unnatural. A static energy charges the air with the weight of menacing purpose. Peace is a lie, he had shown Kylo Ren that many a time. Demonstrating the needless destruction that chaos reigned upon the galaxy when Rebels couldn’t accept their place time and again in a world of order. There is only passion, so he had fed the young man’s volatile nature encouraging his passion in order to gain strength. And through that strength both had achieved power. ‘Such power’ he thought reveling in the victories it brought.

Sheev Palpatine had succeeded in grooming the Skywalker heir. Transforming him from Ben Solo to Kylo Ren. For decades The Emperor had aspired at long last to relinquish the decaying husk he was forced to cling to after Vader had failed his trial. Delighted that when his apprentice would strike him down and complete his part in the plan he could ascend and possess the powerful young man along with the Sith legacy that occupied him. How he would relish ruining the last seed of Skywalker. But _now_. Oh, Kylo’s ‘raw untamed power’ had brought him pleasure as his master…but _now_! He had glimpsed what had always eluded him about the boy. The glimmer that had always seemed to shift as he looked closer, like a loth cat chasing the light a child scatters round a yard with a shard of glass. But _now_ he finally beheld the glory of that light. So bright he had nearly been blinded by its force; there would be no hiding it now. The very power of life itself; a Dyad bond. 

‘This changes everything’ Palpatine luxuriated in the darkness of what had been his waking coffin on Exogol. He thought on how the future of the galaxy, like the Dyad’s power, would blind the weak and revive the worthy. Until then he would, as ever, wait as a spider in a web. Eager for the resurrection of his empire.

'Through victory my chains are broken, The Force shall set me free'

* * *

DJ’s year was long and prosperous. He had trouble keeping up with the demands of the ongoing war and the opportunists that continued to spring up in every corner of the galaxy. Credits were good and there was enough business to bring in an old associate who took a personal interest in seeing Poe Dameron again; Zorii Bliss.

It was nice to see someone give the pretty boy a shiner that lasted a week. Zorii was a renegade with a long history and no intention of sharing it…just like DJ. More importantly though she showed up, did the work, and didn’t ask questions. The fact that she was reliable, clever, and tough as Beskar was just the Jogan fruit on top.

DJ was returning after running a few favors for Leia across some of the seedier star systems. He and Zorii had both taken some damage in a scuffle over a dozen fuels cells the Resistance needed desperately.

“You s-s-should see the other g-g-guys” DJ quipped as a rag tag bunch of rebels greeted them.

Zorii despite her own injuries was yanking the older man by his shirt sleeves through the building unsure whether he was being cocky or suffering from blood loss. DJ carried on in good spirits, basking in the good guy glow with his newfound buddies.

“B-b-but I wouldn’t say n-no to a s-strong drink and some b-b-bacta haha!” his laughter died in his stubbled throat as he and Zorii turned a corner passing by the makeshift interrogation cell on the way to the med-bay.

Zorii may wear a full body suit and a hefty helmet but even DJ could sense the mutual tension she shared as they tried to process the scene. Poe was looking into the room with hardened eyes. And Rey, _the_ Rey, was being scrutinized inside.

“We go away for _one_ week…” Zorii begins wryly testing the waters before she is cut off.

“Not the time. Move it along” Poe bites without looking at either of them.

DJ bore his weight down on Bliss to justify their labored and purposefully slow progress past the cell.

Rey had her brows knit together. Her mouth screwed up in that pout someone makes when they don’t get what they want, or they’re frustrated to tears. He could hear the droid inside administering a psych evaluation. He figured it was only a matter of time before she either cracked under the pressure or did something that made these people fear her, either way DJ felt bad for never schooling her on the finer points of deception. If his daughter were alive, she’d have to be about her age. And he’d be damned if his kid wouldn’t know how to pass a medical droid’s mental maze.

He knew she was a grown woman, but Rey reminded him of his daughter in that moment. Hunched and miserable like a surly old man. She nearly ripped one of the machine’s many arms off as it tried to tend to an old wound that had scarred on her upper arm while it evaluated her. If his pain hadn't gotten worse, he would have laughed. They could have been friends he thought sadly, allowing himself a moment of sentimentality. Two peas in a stubborn pod. A strong, hopeful, and ill-fated pod. It had been years since he let himself even think her name, but as a droid arrived to promptly escort Zorii and him to the medical bay DJ thought wistfully ‘Nyx Kryze would have loved you Rey’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DJ you ARE the father! Surprise! There will be more to this backstory etc. Including more on Nyx (Obviously)   
If you would like more in the meantime check out "Between Two Points" my TLJ fanfic which includes more for both characters as well! 
> 
> As ever thank you for reading! I really appreciate people's interest in my story. SAY HELLO! 
> 
> The title for this chapter came from the very end of the Sith code...and the idea that many of the characters here are trapped in different ways. Rey is being held against her will, Palpy is physically imprisoned within his deformed body, Kylo/Ben is psychologically trapped by Palpy, Nyx was stuck in a cycle, and DJ well....DJ was trapped by his own emotional exile/self denial I suppose...and now that is starting to shift

**Author's Note:**

> Leave some love! We could all use some in these trying times. Comments keep me going like so many other writers!
> 
> So this chapter is all about easing us into TROS. The meaning of the title suggests that not only is the connection between Kylo/Ben and Rey frail but also the relationship Rey has with her life as part of The Resistance. Both Kylo and Rey are also having their sanity questioned in different ways too. Kylo questions his own mind while Rey's mental health is questioned by those around her....What will happen NEXT?!


End file.
